G. Kennedy carefully examined the conflict that Smith covered in The Wealth of Nations brought about by Upper Income citizens that Smith classified as “Projectors, Imprudent risk takers, and Prodigals”. Their behavior led to very detrimental, negative outcomes in the macro economy as a...

Keynes provided an overwhelming argument in his letter of August 27th, 1935 to Harrod that convinced Harrod twice to acknowledge that Keynes had made a “radical reconstruction” of the theory of the rate of interest. Special significance can be given to Keynes's three point post script in...

Smith's use of the “Invisible Hand,” as pointed out by Gavin Kennedy, is a metaphor provided for the great percentage of readers of the Wealth of Nations whom Smith realized would not be able to grasp the nature of his argument, which was about the ambiguity-uncertainty aversion of the...

This paper deals with Keynes’ theoretical stance toward classical economics from the viewpoint of effective demand. In the first section, a recap of the pivotal role attributed to overall demand in the dynamics of the business cycle by many economists prior to the “General Theory” is...

Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) provided a general analysis of virtue ethics (prudence, temperance, courage, justice, benevolence, where Smith combined the virtues of temperance and courage into the virtue of self command) that was applied to all areas of a human society...

Adam Smith completely rejected Utilitarianism in any form in his lifetime in his two major books, the Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and The Wealth of Nations (1776). This paper will examine the basis for Smith’s rejection of Utilitarianism in the Wealth of Nations (1776) only. The Virtue...

Adam Smith’s version of Virtue Ethics can be traced directly back to Plato (Socrates) and Aristotle. Smith basically skipped Aquinas and Augustine because they were also Catholic theologians, as well as philosophers. Referencing them would not have been looked upon kindly by the Scottish...